How I fixed my brain rot
My action plan to take control over my phone addiction.
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Brain Rot: Is the Internet Fogging Our Brains?
Have you ever put your phone down after scrolling and thought, What did I just spend the last 30 minutes doing? Me too. That fuzzy, almost “junk food for the brain” feeling has a name now—brain rot. And honestly, it’s the perfect way to describe that mental fog so many of us are feeling.
What Is “Brain Rot”?
In simple terms, brain rot is when our brains feel dull and sluggish after consuming too much shallow or repetitive content. Think endless TikToks, reels, memes, or even hours of random YouTube rabbit holes. It’s not that all screen time is bad, but when most of it is mindless—it can leave us feeling empty, distracted, and mentally drained.
Even Oxford University Press named “brain rot” the Word of the Year for 2024 because usage of the phrase jumped 230% in just one year. Clearly, we aren’t alone in feeling this way.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Here’s what the research is showing:
6+ hours per day — That’s the global average for adult screen use. Teenagers in the U.S. average 4+ hours a day just on their phones.
1 in 4 teens who scroll frequently report feeling more anxious or depressed.
Experts are starting to compare mindless digital overload to feeding our brains a steady diet of junk food. It fills us up, but it doesn’t nourish us.
When I read that, it made me pause. I want to give my kids nourishing meals every day—so why wouldn’t I also want to give them nourishing input for their minds?
Signs You Might Be Dealing With Brain Rot
Mental fogginess or feeling “checked out”
Trouble focusing or remembering what you just read/watched
Constant urge to scroll, even when you’re not enjoying it
Feeling emotionally numb or irritable after being online
I’ve caught myself in almost every one of these. And if I’m honest, I can see some of these creeping into my kids’ habits too if I’m not careful.
“Brain rot is when our brains feel dull and sluggish after consuming too much shallow or repetitive content.”
My Brain Rot Plan
My goal was to fix this issue before school started again. I have previously made videos about how I had a social media, and ultimately, a phone addiction. I was doing great until my old phone broke. I was forced to get a new phone that was VERY different from my old phone (my old phone was 13 years old 🙃). I had to spend days trying to learn how to use it…and then the addiction started right back up again.
I beat myself up over it for months. I missed that feeling of freedom that I had when I wasn’t tethered to my phone…and my addiction. There was definitely a huge difference. I would feel foggy, tired, and my ability to concentrate was going down the tubes.
I knew I needed a plan. Not just a goal, but actionable steps to get there. If I didn’t have a plan of action, I’d never fix it.
“A man without self-control
is like a city broken into and left without walls.”
Brain Rot Rules
I started with only a few of these. Each week, I added a new rule. I worked on just one rule at a time for about a week and that made it much easier.
If you can get through the first 1-2 weeks, you’re smooth sailing.
1. Social free weekends. No social media on weekends. Delete the apps off the phone. You’re DONE until monday. This was the first rule I implemented.
2. Only check social media at certain points of the day. 5 minutes per check is all you get. For me, it was after Bible in the morning, lunch, and dinner. Three checks a day, 5 minutes each.
3. No phone during school hours
4. No scrolling. Check notifications only.
5. No short form content (no Youtube shorts, tick-tok, etc.)
6. Take FB and IG off phone entirely, only log in via laptop
7. Sign out of FB and IG. I have to log in with a code every time I want to get on. I made it as annoying as possible to use these platforms.
8. Only do one thing at a time, no multitasking. No listening to podcasts while I cook, clean, etc.
9. Learn to sit in silence. Not every moment has to be filled with something in the background.
10. No checking emails, socials, etc. while in bed.
11. During the day, phone stays in the bedroom. Ringer is on for phone calls/texts from family, but out of reach from where I am. Not allowed to put it in the living room or homeschool area.
The first few days
The first few days were hard. I wanted to grab it and play internet games, scroll, and listen to a podcast. I knew this would be hard, but the payoff was worth it. I remembered that feeling from last year and I wanted it back.
After the first week, I felt much better.
After two weeks, my creativity came back in droves. It was like someone hit the “on” switch in my brain.
I started up my hobbies again and picked up new ones. I remembered things I liked doing years ago and started those activities again. I worked out more, listened more, and checked on friends and family more (through real means of communication). My retention was better, and I had a desire to do things I hadn’t done before.
I even bought a few jigsaw puzzles to do, and my teenage son joined me. We’ve had a lot of fun together with that project. I hadn’t put a puzzle together since I was a teenager, and I forgot how much I loved them.
My prayer is that I can keep this up and not slip back into old habits.
If you’re having a problem with your phone usage like me, I hope these rules will help you.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
Until next time,
Soli Deo Gloria,
Mandy
